Today’s thread is brought to you by the numbers 1, 6, 7, 8 and 18.
We have to start with The Voice which pulled out all the stops and got their fans panic voting/buying to save their favourites from the blood bath about to happen tonight. Of the 9 current contestants, five leave the show tonight so every vote is critical. The top 3 get in automatically and the next 3 sing-off for the final slot. Contestants get a bonus if they get in the top 10 on iTunes and next week, cumulative sales count towards the win as well.
As a result, this morning, 8 of the top 10 slots on the iTunes chart belong to Voicers (only Adele and Bieber survive). I kind of feel sorry for the ninth contestant who now, like the cheese, stands alone. Jordan Smith even manages to toss Adele off the top of the chart by a rather convincing margin. He won’t top the Hot 100 next week unless he doubles Adele’s sales for most of the week – otherwise, he can’t make up for the streaming/radio points Adele gets.
Speaking of the Hot 100, Adele’s “Hello” tops it for the sixth week. It also tops the sales, streaming, radio and a whack of other charts. I’m going to have to start listing the charts she does not top (so far, the Tropical Music Chart has resisted her charms). Justin Bieber continues to have 3 songs in the top 10 with “Sorry” at number 2, “What Do You Mean” at 4 and “Love Yourself” at 7 (it debuted on Pop radio this week and it isn’t even being pushed as a single yet while “Sorry” continues to climb). Drake continues at number 3 with “Hotline Bling” while The Weeknd is 5th with “The Hills” (making for 42 consecutive weeks in the top 10 tying for the third longest consecutive stay with Santana and Mariah Carey. Ace of Base is second with 48 weeks and Katy Perry lasted 69 consecutive weeks).
Shawn Mendes is 6th on the chart with “Stitches” and Alessia Cara’s “Here” is 8th. Canadians have locked up spots 2-8 for seven slots on the chart for the third consecutive week. Ninth slot goes to Meghan Trainor’s “Like I’m Going to Lose You” while Selena Gomez’s “Come and Get It” arrives in the top 10.
Billboard decided to put out a Guitar Hero 100 Live chart this week and it features a couple of favourites from reality singing competitions. “Live Like We’re Young” from One Direction gets rated 6th while “Before He Cheats” from Carrie Underwood is 18th (I’m sure that song is popular in Karaoke bars as well – you can really dig into that hooky chorus).